Rape scandal: Damongo hospital staff declare sit-down strike

Staff of the Damongo hospital in the Northern region have declared a sit-down strike accusing police of wrongful arrest and prosecution of their colleague alleged to have raped an Italian national on admission five days ago.

Local executives of the Ghana Nurses and Midwifery Association in the district have currently visited the hospital appealing to the staff to rescind the decision.

Public Relations of the Association, Justice Parmak, told Starr News the staff are angry and traumatized by the way the police are treating their colleague.

He said the staff have refused to resume duties until their colleague, who they maintained was accused wrongly, is released and discharged.

Background

The male nurse of the Damongo Government hospital in the Northern Region has been arrested for sexually assaulting a debilitated malaria female patient under his care at the facility, after allegedly giving her an overdosed medication.

The victim, an Italian national, accused Ernest Green, 28, of having unprotected sex with her on Friday dawn, few hours after she was admitted at the hospital on Thursday midnight.

Police arrested the nurse on Sunday after a report was filed by the recuperating victim, who narrated how the assault unfolded.

The suspect, according to the victim deceived her to a separated, lonely facility in the hospital, where he promised her of enhanced treatment but ended up raping her repeatedly after she was enervated by drugs prescribed by the nurse.

“The complainant said she was rushed to the hospital at about 11:50 pm the previous day when attacked by malaria. She said the suspect approached her and told her the hospital has a private ward if she would like to take it and she agreed”, Police spokesman in the Northern Region, ASP Yussif Tanko said in a statement to journalists, late Sunday.